Safety razor



Nov. 8, 1966 A. E. CHAMBERS SAFETY RAZOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 21, 1964 INVENTOR E. CHAMBEfi BY M1. 50% 557745 a CEFI/G HTTQZNEKS 5 ARTHUR Nov. 8, 1966 A. E. CHAMBERS SAFETY RAZOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 21, 1964 3 4 INVENTOR.

flRrHu/e E. Cannes/es Nov. 8, 1966 E. CHAMBERS 3,283,403

SAFETY RAZOR Filed April 21, 1964 {5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I NVENTOR. Herr/UR E. C'H4MBER5 United States Patent 3,283,403 SAFETY RAZOR Arthur E. Chambers, 21370 Knudsen, Grosse Ile, Mich. Filed Apr. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 361,414 4 Claims. (Cl. 30-605) This invention relates to safety razors of the so-called clam shell type and more particularly to a three-position razor of such type wherein the blade caps are capable of being maintained in a partially opened blade cleaning position which is intermediate the fully closed and fully opened positions of the blade caps. In its more detailed aspect, the invention further relates to an improved form of spider construction for safety razors.

It is one object of the invention to provide a safety razor of the foregoing type wherein the component parts can be produced by simplified manufacturing processes.

It is another object of the invention to provide a onepiece side bar and spider assembly for a safety razor which can be stamped from a flat piece of sheet metal.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a three'position clam shell type razor having animproved actuating mechanism especially designed for efiicient production and assembly.

The foregoing and other objects are achieved in a safety razor wherein a plastic handle is provided with a hollow tubular metallic neck at one end and a hollow metallic cap at its opposite end. The neck and cap are fixedly secured to the handle by inwardly turned flanges which are seated in the plastic material of the handle while the material is heated to a softened state. The cap is readily formed from standard tubular metal stock, while the cap is so constructed that it can be readily formed and provided with spaced abutments forming part of the actuating mechanism in a drawing and forming process. The blade support guard and blade caps are of generally conventional construction with the guard fixedly secured to the upper end of the neck.

The spider and side bars are formed from -a single piece of material by stamping the spider and side bars from a flat piece of sheet metal and subsequently twisting the side bars relative to the main body portion of the spider. An actuating rod is fixedly secured to the spider and is slidably supported within a longitudinal bore in the handie. A compression spring biases the acutating rod downwardly to normally bias the spider toward the blade closed position. A cup-shaped button receives the other end of the actuating rod and is provided with ears which cooperate with the abutments in the end cap to selectively locate the actuating rod and spider at three longitudinally spaced positions relative to the handle, these positions corresponding to the three rest positions of the blade caps.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following specification and to the drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a safety razor embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail side elevational view of the head of the razor of FIG. 1 showing the razor in its closed position;

FIG. 3 is a detail side elevational view, partially in section, with certain parts broken away showing the razor in a partially opened blade cleaning position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the razor in its fully opened blade changing position;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the spider is formed;

FIG. 6 is a detail perspective view of the structure "ice joining the side bars to the main portion of the spider with the spider in its completed configuration;

FIG. 7 is a detail plan view of the lower end cap; and

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of the end cap taken on line 88 of FIG. 7. i

The structural components of a safety razor embodying the invention are best seen individually in FIG. 1 and include an elongate handle 10 of plastic material which is longitudinally bored as at 12. An upper cap or neck 14 having a hollow interior 15 is employed to conple a blade supporting guard member 16 to the upper end of handle 10. A spider 18 serves to pivotally support a pair of blade caps 20, the blade caps cooperating with portions of guard 16 in a well known manner to pivot between a closed blade clamping position relative to guard 16 and an open blade changing position relative to guard 16 in accordance with the position of spider 18 longitudinally of handle 10.

A stud 22 is formed on spider 18 to project downwardly through an opening 24 in guard 16 and into the hollow interior of neck 14. An actuating rod 26 is constructed to be slidably received within the bore 12 of handle 10 and to project upwardly into the interior of hollow neck 14 to be fixedly secured to stud 22 of the spider.

A compression spring 28 bears at one end against a flange or washer 30 fixedly mounted at the lower end of rod 26. A lower cap 32 is constructed to be fixedly secured to the lower end of handle 10 and is formed with abutments indicated generally at 34 which cooperate with a cup-shaped button 36 which receives the lower end of rod 26 in a fashion more clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Ears 38 are formed on the upper end of the button for cooperation with abutment 34 in a manner to be described more fully below.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, spider 18 is constructed by initially forming a flat sheet metal blank to the shape shown in FIG. 5 as by a stamping operation. The blank of FIG. 5 includes a main body portion 40 which is adapted to pass through the central aperture or slot in the blade to align the blade with the guard in the conventional manner. At each of the opposite ends of body 40, a relatively short neck 42 is formed to integrally join the side bar portions 44 to main body portion 40. At each of the outer ends of side bars 44 inwardly projecting pivot lugs 46 are integrally formed to provide a pivotal mounting for blade caps 20 upon the spider. As indicated in FIG. 5, when the spider blank is initially formed, side bars 44, necks 42 and main body portion 40 all lie in a common general plane with necks 42 aligned on a common axis AA. By reference to FIG. 1, it is seen that in its final configuration, the main body portion 40 of the spider lies in a generally vertical plane while the side bars extend in substantially horizontal directions.

The spider blank of FIG. 5 is manipulated into its final configuration of FIG. 1 by twisting the necks through an angle of about axis AA while holding the main body portion of the spider against rotation. Because of the relatively small cross sectional areas of neck portions 42, substantially all of the twisting of the metal occurs in the neck portions, as best seen in FIG. 6. In addition to the twisting action which takes place about the axis of AA of FIG. 5, the outer ends of the side bars are bent downwardly slightly to locate the blade cap pivot axes defined by lugs 46 in the desired relationship to main body portion 40 of the spider.

Spider 18 is fixedly secured to the upper end of actuating rod 26 by inserting stud 22 into a bore 47 at the upper end of rod 26 and subsequently crimping the rod as at 48 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

Guard 16 is fixedly secured to the upper end of handle 10 by passing a small diameter extension 50 at the upper rid. of hollow neck 14 through opening 24 in guard 16 nd then heading over the projecting end of projection 50 s at 52 (FIG. 4). The lower end of neck 14 is sub equently secured to the upper end of handle by emedding a flange 54 into the upper end of handle 10. andle 10 is preferably constructed of plastic and the ounting of neck 14 on the handle is accomplished by rst heating the handle until the plastic is soft and then orcing the flange 54 into the sides of the handle. Upon ooling, the plastic firmly gripsthe neck 14 to retain the eck and guard in fixed relationship upon the handle; Referring particularly to FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower end of bore 12 through the handle is enlarged as at 56 to provide clearance for spring 28 and also to provide a ownwardly facing seat 58 within the handle against hich the upper end of spring 28 bears. The lower end f actuating rod 26 projects downwardly'beyond the lower end of handle 10 and extends through lower cap 32, which is "secured to handle 10 by inwardly directed flanges 60 seated in the handle by the same procedure as described in connection with neck 14 above.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, cap 32 is formed from a cup-shaped stamping and, in' its completed form, has a generally circular opening 62 through its lower end. At diametrically opposed sides of the opening, two complementary stepped abutments are formed, each abutment steps 64 being diametrically opposite each other as are the two steps 66. Steps 64 and 66 together with the bottom wall 68 of cap 32 define three steps which are offset from each other along the longitudinal axis of handle 10 and are also angularly offset from each other about the longitudinal axis of handle 10.

The three steps constituted by bottom wall 68, lower abutment 64 and upper abutment define rest positions of button 36 axially of handle 10. Ears 38 on button 36 project radially outwardly from the button beyond the edge of opening 62 in cap 32. Ears 38 are diametrically opposed from each other and extend circumferentially of opening 62 by an amount slightly less than the circumferential extent of the respective steps.

which is engaged between the downwardly facing shoulder 58 in the interior of the. handle and flange 30 fixed on rod 26, resiliently biases the lower end of the rod against the bottom of the cup-shaped button 36, thus resiliently biasing the button toward the lower end of cap 32. If cars 38 of cap 32 are rotatably aligned with the spaces between abutments 64-66, the ears lie against the lower wall 68 of cap 32 .and actuating rod 26 is at that time at its lowest possible position relative to handle 10. The cooperative relationship between end caps 20 and guard 16 is such that this lowermost position of the spider, which is attached to rod 26, positions the end caps in their closed blade clamping relationship with guard 16 i.e., that relationship shown in FIG. 2.

To shift the blade caps from their FIG. 2 position to the partially open position of FIG. 3, button 36 is pressed longitudinally upwardly into cap 32 and then rotated to bring ears 38 into overlying relationship with lower abutments 64 in the end cap. Spring 28 .resists the inward longitudinal movement of button 36, and when the ears 38 overlie the abutment 64, they are resiliently biased longitudinally against the abutments by spring casioned by the movement of button 36 from its lowermost position (indicated in broken line in FIG. 3) to the full line position of FIG. 3 elevates spider 18 relative to guard 10 and the upward movement of the pivotal axes of blade caps 20 causes the blade caps to cooperate with guard 16 in a well known manner to pivot into the FIG. 3 position. The blade caps as shown in their FIG. 3 position partial-1y expose the razor blade for cleaning purposes.

To shift the end caps to the fully opened position of including a lower step 64 and an upper step 66, the two.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the assembled razor, spring 28,

28. The upward longitudinal movement of rod 26 oc-' FIG. 4 to expose the blade for removal or changing, the button 36 .is pushed upwardly into cap 32 and then rotated to bring ears 38 into rotary alignment with upper abutments 66.

While I have described one embodiment of my in: vention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed embodiment may be modified. Therefore, the foregoing description is to be considered exemplary rather than limiting, and the true scope of the invention is that defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a safety razor having an elongate handle, a blade supporting guard fixedly secured to one end of said handle, a spider cooperatively associated with said guard and supported for movement longitudinally of said handle, blade caps carried by said spider and'engageable with said guard for movement between ,a closed blade clamping relationship with said guard, a partially opened blade cleaning position and a fully opened blade changing position in accordance with the longitudinal position of said spider relative to said handle, and actuating means for positioning said spider in any of three distinct longi: tudinal positions relative to said handle respectively corresponding to the three positions of said blade caps; the improvement wherein said actuating means comprises means defining a longitudinal bore extending through said handle, a hollow end cap mounted upon and pro-.

jecting from the end ,of said handle remote from said guard, said end cap having a bottom wall thereon in spaced opposed relationship to said remote end of said handle and having a circular opening therethroughcoaxial with said bore, a button rotatably'and slidably received within said circular opening in said bottom Wall and projecting outwardly beyond said bottom wall, said button having opposed ears thereon projecting radially outwardly into overlying relationship with the interior of said bottom wall to retain said button in said end cap, an elongate actuating rod slidably received within said bore, said rod having one end fixedly secured to said spider and having its other end seated againstsaid button, spring means in said handle resiliently biasing said rod against said button,a first pair of diametrically opposed abutments in said end cap at the sides of said circular opening, a second pair of diametrically opposed abutments at opposite sides of said circular openings,

said second abutments extending longitudinally trom said bottom wall toward said remote end of said handle by a distance greater than the corresponding longitudinal extent of said first abutments and being angular-1y offset therefrom, said bottom wall, said first abutments and said second abutments being selectively engageable with the ears of said button to establish three longitudinally spaced positions of said button and said rod relative to said handle corresponding respectively to the clamping, cleaning and blade positions of said blade caps 2. A safety razor comprising an elongate handle having a longitudinally extending bore therethrough, a hollow tubular neck fixed-1y mounted upon and extending upwardly from the upper end of said handle, a blade supporting guard fixedly mounted upon the upper end of said neck, a hollow tubular end cap fixedly secured to and extending downwardly from the lower end of said handle, a cup-shaped button received within an opening in the bottom of said end cap coaxial with said bore for axial and rotary movement, outwardly projecting ears on the upper end of said button engageable with the bottom of said endcap to establish a lower limit of movement of said button downwardly from said handle, an actuating rod slidably received in said bore and .hav-

ing its lower end seated in said button, the upper end.

of said rod projecting through an opening at the upper end of said neck, spring means in said handle resiliently biasing said rod downwardly against said button, a spider fixedly mounted at the upper end of said rod for move ment therewith longitudinally of said handle, a pair of blade caps pivota-lly mounted on said spider, and means engageable between said blade caps and said guard for pivoting said blade caps from a closed blade clamping relationship with said guard toward an open position upon upward longitudinal movement of said rod from a normal rest position determined by the lower limit of movement of said button.

3. A safety razor as defined in claim 2 wherein said ears on said button project from two diametrically opposed portions of said button, a pair of diametrically opposed abutments projecting upwardly from the bottom of said end cap at opposite sides of said opening, said ears being engageable with said abutments upon upward movement of said button from its lower rest position to a location above said abutment followed by rotation of said but-ton until the ears are angularly aligned With said abutments.

4. A safety razor as defined in claim 3 including a second pair of diametrically opposed abutments extending upwardly from said bottom of said end cap at opposite sides of said opening, said second pair of abut ments being angul-arly displaced about said opening irom said first pair of abutments.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Exa'miner.

MYRON C. KROUSE, Examiner. 

1. IN A SAFETY RAZOR HAVING AN ELONGATE HANDLE, A BLADE SUPPORTING GUARD FIXEDLY SECURED TO ONE END OF SAID HANDLE, A SPIDER COOPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID GUARD AND SUPPORTED FOR MOVEMENT LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID HANDLE, BLADE CAPS CARRIED BY SAID SPIDER AN ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID GUARD FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN A CLOSED BLADE CLAMPING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID GUARD, A PARTIALLY OPENED BLADE CLEANING POSITION AND A FULLY OPENED BLADE CHANGING POSITION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LONGITUDINAL POSITION OF SAID SPIDER RELATIVE TO SAID HANDLE, AND ACTUATING MEANS FOR POSITIONING SAID SPIDER IN ANY OF THREE DISTINCT LONGITUDINAL POSITIONS RELATIVE TO SAID HANDLE RESPECTIVELY CORRESPONDING TO THE THREE POSITIONS OF SAID BLADE CAPS; THE IMPROVEMENT WHEREIN SAID ACTUATING MEANS COMPRISES MEANS DEFININ A LONGITUDINAL BORE EXTENDING THROUGH SAID HANDLE, A HOLLOW END CAP MOUNTED UPON AND PROJECTING FROM THE END OF SAID HANDLE REMOTE FROM SAID GUARD, SAID END CAP HAVING A BOTTOM WALL THEREON IN SPACED OPPOSED RELATIONSHIP TO SAID REMOTE END OF SAID HANDLE AND HAVING A CIRCULAR OPENING THERETHROUGH COAXIAL WITH SAID BORE, A BUTTON ROTATABLY AND SLIDABLY RECEIVED WITHIN SAID CIRCULAR OPENING IN SAID BOTTOM WALL AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY BEYOND SAID BOTTOM WALL, SAID BUTTON HAVING OPPOSED EARS THEREON PROJECTING RADIALLY OUTWARDLY INTO OVERLYING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE INTERIOR OF SAID BOTTOM WALL TO RETAIN SAID BUTTON IN SAID END CAP, AN ELONGATE ACTUATING ROD SLIDABLY RECIEVED WITHIN SAID BORE, SAID ROD HAVING ONE END FIXEDLY SECURED TO SAID SPIDER AND HAVING ITS OTHER END SEATED AGAINST SAID BUTTON, SPRING MEANS IN SAID HANDLE RESILIENTLY BIASING SAID ROD AGAINST SAID BUTTON, A FIRST PAIR OF DIAMETRICALLY 